{"id":19360,"date":"2025-06-07T16:39:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T15:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=19360"},"modified":"2025-06-07T16:39:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T15:39:25","slug":"police-let-half-of-all-class-a-drug-users-walk-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/06\/police-let-half-of-all-class-a-drug-users-walk-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Police let half of all Class A Drug users walk free"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><main id=\"main-content\" class=\"container tpl-article tpl-article__layout--standard\"><\/p>\n<div><span class=\"e-byline e-byline--multi\" data-test=\"byline\"><span class=\"e-byline__meta--multi\" data-test=\"byline-meta\"><span class=\"e-byline__details-multiAuthors\"><span class=\"e-byline__author\" data-test=\"author-name\">by Charles Hymas<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"e-byline__job-title\" data-test=\"author-job-title\">Home Affairs Editor.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"e-byline__meta--multi\" data-test=\"byline-meta\"><span class=\"e-byline__details-multiAuthors\"><span class=\"e-byline__author\" data-test=\"author-name\">Ollie Corfe.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"e-byline__meta--multi\" data-test=\"byline-meta\"><span class=\"e-byline__details-multiAuthors\"><span class=\"e-byline__author\" data-test=\"author-name\">Ben Butcher<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"e-byline__job-title\" data-test=\"author-job-title\">Data Editor &#8211; The Telegraph of London &#8211;\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>29 May 2025<\/div>\n<article class=\"grid\">\n<header class=\"grid-col\n\t\tgrid-col-12\n\t\ttpl-article__layout\n\t\ttpl-article__layout--header\n\t\ttpl-article__layout--header-no-lead-asset\" data-test=\"article-header\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"e-standfirst u-heading-4  \" data-test=\"standfirst\"><strong>Possession of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin treated as a health issue rather than a criminal matter by UK forces<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<aside class=\"grid-col\n\t\t\t\tgrid-col-12\n\t\t\t\tgrid-col-lg-2\n\t\t\t\ttpl-article__layout\n\n\t\t\t\ttpl-article__layout--meta-no-lead-asset\n\n\t\t\t\ttpl-article__separator\n\t\t\t\ttpl-article__separator--pseudo-hide-lg\" data-js=\"article-meta\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"tpl-article__left-container\" data-test=\"tpl-actions-left-container\">\n<div class=\"tpl-article__actions-container\">\n<div class=\"tpl-action__desktop\">\n<div class=\"overlay-tooltip__wrapper\">Half of class A drug users are let off by police without punishment, official figures show.<\/div>\n<div class=\"overlay-tooltip__wrapper\">Some 48.1 per cent of people caught in possession of hard drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, were let off without any criminal sanction, Home Office data analysed by The Telegraph reveals.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"grid-col\n\t\t\t\t\tgrid-col-12\n\t\t\t\t\ttpl-article__layout\n\t\t\t\t\ttpl-article__layout--content\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\" data-js=\"article-body\" data-test=\"tpl-article-body-recipe\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"articleBodyText section\">\n<div class=\"component article-body-text    \" data-test=\"article-body-text\">\n<p>It represents a six-fold increase in drug users escaping prosecution since 2016, when the proportion was only 7.5 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>In some forces, more than 80 per cent caught with cocaine, heroin or other class A drugs escaped any criminal punishment.<\/p>\n<p>They were instead handed community resolutions, which do not result in a criminal record and only require an offender to accept \u201cresponsibility\u201d for their crime, or were let off \u201cin the public interest\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Only a third of class A drug possession offences resulted in a charge.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/06\/police-let-half-of-all-class-a-drug-users-walk-free\/police-let-offs\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-19363\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19363\" src=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Police-let-offs.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"894\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Police-let-offs.jpg 894w, https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Police-let-offs-640x344.jpg 640w, https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Police-let-offs-768x412.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 894px) 100vw, 894px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"html-embed section\" data-test=\"particle-embed\">\n<div id=\"wrp-9ec45bd6-4139-4b92-9136-5c90323395a0\" class=\"wrp-9ec45bd6-4139-4b92-9136-5c90323395a0 part-wrp frame--loaded\">The data reflects a shift by police to treat drug possession of any type as a health issue rather than criminal one and comes days after Sir Sadiq Khan, the Labour Mayor of London, called for possession of small amounts of natural cannabis to be decriminalised.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"articleBodyText section\">\n<div class=\"component article-body-text    \" data-test=\"article-body-text\">\n<p>But critics have warned police against \u201cdecriminalising drugs via the back door by ignoring tens of thousands of offences\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>At least a quarter of the 43 police forces in England and Wales have adopted \u201cdiversion\u201d schemes where users caught with small amounts of drugs like cannabis are \u201cdiverted\u201d to treatment or education programmes rather than prosecuted,\u00a0particularly for first-time offences.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly three-quarters (72.1 per cent) of those\u00a0caught in possession of cannabis\u00a0were let off without any criminal sanctions.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/06\/police-let-half-of-all-class-a-drug-users-walk-free\/charge-rates-police\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-19362\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19362\" src=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charge-rates-police.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"953\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charge-rates-police.jpg 953w, https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charge-rates-police-640x359.jpg 640w, https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charge-rates-police-768x430.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 953px) 100vw, 953px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"html-embed section\" data-test=\"particle-embed\">\n<div id=\"wrp-dc3bb5d3-c5a5-4331-ba39-56e7b68eedf3\" class=\"wrp-dc3bb5d3-c5a5-4331-ba39-56e7b68eedf3 part-wrp frame--loaded\">Thames Valley, West Midlands and Durham are among the dozen forces to have adopted diversion schemes, which could be rolled out nationally if successful.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"articleBodyText section\">\n<div class=\"component article-body-text    \" data-test=\"article-body-text\">\n<p>The Treasury and Cabinet Office have put \u00a31.9 million into evaluating the approach in partnership with five universities, the National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing, the standards body for forces in England and Wales.<\/p>\n<p>The College said the aim of the diversion scheme was to \u201creduce re-offending and wider harms by approaching substance use as a health issue rather than a criminal justice issue\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The research will compare re-offending rates, hospital and treatment admissions with the aim of establishing \u201cwhether and how drug diversion works, for whom, when and why\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"u-heading-size-medium u-heading-style-normal\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">\u2018Devastated by soft policy\u2019<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>But Chris Philp,\u00a0the Tory shadow home secretary, warned the move amounted to decriminalisation by stealth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParliament has rightly legislated that certain drugs are illegal because they cause serious harm to health, lead to antisocial behaviour and fuel acquisitive crime like theft, burglary and shoplifting as addicts steal to fund buying drugs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPolice should not be decriminalising drugs via the back door by ignoring tens of thousands of offences. People who break the law should be prosecuted, and a magistrate or judge can decide what to do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOptions a magistrate has available include fines, community service and addiction treatment requirements as well as prison.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have seen many US and Canadian cities devastated by soft drugs policies. These have allowed ghettos to develop where\u00a0zombified addicts loiter unpunished\u00a0and law abiding members of the public fear to go. We can\u2019t allow the UK to go the same way through weak policing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need a zero tolerance approach to crime, including a zero tolerance approach to drug taking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the College of Policing defended its approach and pointed to research, based on 16 different studies, that showed drug diversion had resulted in a \u201csmall but significant\u201d reduction in drug use, particularly among young people.<\/p>\n<p>The Telegraph analysis showed that Warwickshire had the lowest proportion of offenders caught with class A drugs who were let off, at just 9.2 per cent, while Dyfed Powys had the highest at 88.6 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>Nerys Thomas, Director of Research at the College of Policing, said:\u201cWe are focussed on cutting crime and keeping the public safe. Class A drugs are the most harmful category and being found in possession of them is a criminal offence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government has provided funding to understand what initiatives could be used to reduce offending and protect the public. This includes a piece of work between the College, \u00a0the University of Sheffield\u00a0and 11 other agencies across the criminal justice system to interview hundreds of officers and drug offenders and analyse police data to understand if diversion schemes can reduce crime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe results of this study will be made publicly available next year.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Source:\u00a0 https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/gift\/6e423b9614e616f8<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"u-separator-top--loose u-separator--branded\">\n<aside id=\"comment\" class=\"comment scale-comments\" data-comment-config=\"{&quot;authorMode&quot;:false,&quot;articleCommentingConfig&quot;:true,&quot;convConfig&quot;:{&quot;articleId&quot;:&quot;A4jV0njNXQPS&quot;,&quot;viafouraEnvironmentId&quot;:&quot;00000000-0000-4000-8000-010fdf3f0a45&quot;}}\" data-js=\"comment\" aria-label=\"Commenting\" data-test=\"join-conversation-section\">\n<div class=\"comment__header-container\" data-js=\"comment-header-container\" data-test=\"comment-header-container\"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"grid-col\n\t\t\t\t\tgrid-col-12\n\t\t\t\t\ttpl-article__layout tpl-article__layout--sidebar\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\" aria-label=\"More stories\" data-js=\"tpl-article-layout-sidebar-series-nav\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"tpl-article__sidebar \" data-js=\"article-sidebar\">\n<div class=\"more-stories section\" data-test=\"data-source-list\">\n<div class=\"article-list more-stories__list \" data-recombee=\"{ &quot;widget&quot;: &quot;recombee-rhr&quot;, &quot;maxStories&quot;: 6, &quot;layout&quot;: &quot;row&quot;, &quot;trackingName&quot;: &quot;More stories&quot;, &quot;scenario&quot;: &quot;web-more-stories&quot;, &quot;apiEndpoint&quot;: &quot;RecommendItemsToItem&quot; }\">\n<article class=\"card u-clickable-area u-separator-top\" data-card=\"\" data-track-wrapper=\"More stories\">\n<div class=\"card__thumbnail card__thumbnail--square u-order-first\"><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/main>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Charles Hymas\u00a0Home Affairs Editor.\u00a0Ollie Corfe.\u00a0Ben Butcher\u00a0Data Editor &#8211; The Telegraph of London &#8211;\u00a029 May 2025 Possession of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin treated as a health issue rather than a criminal matter by UK forces Half of class A drug users are let off by police without punishment, official figures show. Some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,68,12,40,128],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime-violence-prison","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-legal-sector","category-prevention-research","category-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}